KET’s fall primetime season launches with The Roosevelts, packed with must-see specials and returning favorites

For Release: 2014-08-26 15:40:00

KET’s fall primetime season lineup includes plenty of appointment-worthy TV, including the premiere of Ken Burns’ highly anticipated documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate Portrait, which for the first time weaves together into one narrative the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
The fall season also promises new episodes of KET’s popular series Kentucky Life and Louisville Life beginning Oct. 4 and a new Kentucky Muse special on Actors Theatre of Louisville, airing Sept. 22.
The following list offers a glimpse of what’s in store for KET viewers this fall:
SEPTEMBER
• The Roosevelts: An Intimate Portrait airing Sunday-Saturday, Sept. 14-20 at 8/7 pm on KET and at 10/9 pm on KET2. Ken Burns’ epic, 14-hour documentary offers an in-depth look at one of the most prominent and influential families in American politics, in a tale that spans the Great Depression, two World Wars and six terms at the White House.
• The Men Who Made Us Fat airing Tuesdays at 8/7 on KET2 beginning Sept. 2 and Mondays at 10/9 pm on KET beginning Sept. 8. Journalist Jacques Peretti explores the ways eating habits have been revolutionized over the last 40 years – including the introduction of high fructose corn syrup and “supersizing.”
• Nova “Vaccines – Calling the Shots” airing Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 9/8 pm on KET. Nova takes viewers around the world to trace epidemics, explore the science behind vaccinations and shed light on the risks of opting out – including a look at the ways that whooping cough, measles and mumps are returning to the U.S. after being nearly eradicated a generation ago.
• Masterpiece Mystery! “Miss Marple” airing Sundays, Sept. 21-28 at 9/8 pm on KET. Acclaimed British Actress Julia McKenzie returns as spinster Miss Marple in three new episodes: “A Caribbean Mystery,” “Greenshaw’s Folly” and “Endless Night.”
• Kentucky Muse “Actors Theatre of Louisville,” airing Monday, Sept. 22 at 9/8 pm on KET. A spotlight on ATL, which is celebrating its 50th year. With an emphasis on new American plays and a strong apprenticeship program, the renowned repertory theater has become one of the most respected theater companies in the country.
• The Boomer List: American Masters airing Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 9/8 pm on KET, offers an in-depth look at 19 iconic baby boomers – one born for each year of the boom, 1946-1964 – illuminating how they shaped arts and entertainment, civil LGBT and women’s rights, politics, sports and more. Featured boomers include Billy Joel, author Amy Tan and more.
• Finding Your Roots, Season 2, airing Tuesdays, Sept. 23-Nov. 25 at 8/7 pm on KET. A diverse group of 30 guests – including Ben Affleck, Derek Jeter, Jessica Alba, Anderson Cooper, Billie Jean King, Stephen King and many more – join Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and a team of leading geneticists to uncover their family origins.
• NOVA “Rise of the Hackers” airing Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 9/8 pm on KET. NOVA goes behind the scenes of the fast-paced world of cryptography to meet the scientists battling to keep our data safe.
• Live from Lincoln Center “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” In Concert with the New York Philharmonic airing Friday, Sept. 26 at 9:30/8:30 pm on KET. Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson stars as Mrs. Lovett – Sweeny Todd’s landlord -- in the story of the barber who seeks vengeance on what he considers a merciless world.
• Masterpiece “The Paradise, Season 2” airing Sundays, Sept. 28-Nov. 16 at 8/7 pm on KET. A year after the events of the first season, the Victorian-era department store is reeling in the wake of scandal, as it struggles to operate without its exiled owner.
• Makers airing Tuesdays, Sept. 30-Oct. 28 at 9/8 pm on KET2. New documentaries in the Makers project feature groundbreaking women in different spheres of influence: comedy, Hollywood, space, politics, business and war. The first episode includes interviews with contemporary female comics, including Chelsea Handler, Mo’Nique, Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett, Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Lynch and more. “Women in Hollywood,” episode 2, includes interviews with Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, Lena Dunham and others.
• Antiques Roadshow airing Mondays at 8/7 pm on KET2 beginning Sept. 22 and Thursdays at 8/7 pm on KET beginning Sept. 25. Six new episodes premiere this fall – including episodes from Knoxville and Jacksonville – as well as four specials: “Junk in the Trunk 4,” “The Boomer Years,” and “Manor House Treasures.”
OCTOBER:
• Kentucky Life, 20th season premiere, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8/7 pm and Sunday, Oct. 5 at 4/3 pm on KET.
• Louisville Life, 9th season premiere, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 5:30/4:30 pm on KET2 and Sunday, Oct. 5 at 10/9 am on KET (new time).
• Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years airing Friday, Oct. 3 at 9:30/8:30 pm on KET. A star-studded lineup converges to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary, including visits by Jeff Bridges, Matthew McConaughey and Sheryl Crow and performances by legends Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Buddy Guy and many more.
• Masterpiece Mystery! “Inspector Lewis, Season 7” airing Sundays, Oct. 5-19 at 9/8 pm on KET. Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox return for a seventh season of the beloved Inspector Lewis series.
• How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson, two-episode premiere, Wednesday, Oct. 15 beginning at 9/8 pm on KET. Other episodes air Wednesdays, Oct. 22-29 at 10/9 pm on KET. Best-selling science and technology author Steven Johnson shares the little-known stories behind ideas and inventions that made modern life possible. Topics include “Clean” – focusing on safe drinking water, iPhones, sewers and subways – as well as “Time,” “Glass,” “Light,” “Cold” and “Sound.”
• The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess from San Francisco Opera airing Friday, Oct. 17 at 9/8 pm on KET. Bass-baritone Eric Owens and soprano Laquita Mitchell star as Porgy and Bess in the classic tale of a disabled man, the headstrong women he loves and the community that sustains them both.
• Great Performances “Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live” airing Friday, Oct. 24 at 10/9 pm on KET. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga team up for a special concert from the stage of Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in New York City, performing selections from their collaborative classic jazz recording Cheek to Cheek.
• Masterpiece Mystery! “Death Comes to Pemberley” beginning Sunday, Oct. 26 at 9/8 pm on KET. Adapted from P.D. James’ best-selling, clever whodunit, the story offers a sequel to Jane Austen’s immortal novel Pride and Prejudice.
LATER THIS FALL
Later this fall, viewers can look forward to even more great local programming and star-studded specials, including:
• Kentucky Collectibles season 3 premiere, featuring unique and antique items found during the series’ first-ever appraisal fair on the road, held at the Frazier History Museum in Louisville.
• Bill Nighy as M15 spy Johnny Worricker along with an A-list cast including Christopher Walken, Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes in Masterpiece “Worricker: Turks & Caicos” and “Worricker: Salting the Battlefield.”
• Elaine Page returning to her original role as Grizabella, the faded “Glamour Cat” singing the show-stopping ballad “Memory” in Great Performances “Cats!,” a special stage presentation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster hit.
• An American Masters special on Bing Crosby, who remains today – 37 years after his death – the most recorded performer in history. His career boasted nearly 400 hit singles, an achievement no one else has come close to matching.
• A Call the Midwife Holiday Special. Celebrate the holidays alongside the nurses and nuns of Nonnatus House in this special edition of the acclaimed series, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth and her experiences as a midwife in London’s East End in the 1950s and 1960s.
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